Singularity could best be described as a first-person horror shooter mixed with an uninspiring yet wonderfully chilling time-shifting sci-fi plot. Those pesky Russian scientists have once again found themselves playing with things they don’t quite understand, this time an energy source known as E99 which Stalin believes can be used to manipulate time, pushing their experiments to the point of creating a catastrophic time rift dubbed ‘Singularity’, and sending the island of Katorga-12 spiralling into chaos – and quarantined off from the rest of the world. 55 years later, following intelligence reports of activity on the island, a US recon team is sent in to find out what’s happening on the mysterious island, before discovering that they’re not the only one determined to get to the bottom of it.

So far, so early-noughties TV show, but Singularity’s influences don’t end there. It rips off almost every major game of the last decade, and some of the not so big ones, too. Its BioShock-alike tendencies are obvious from the get go, from Singularity’s crash-landing into an unknown civilization to the frequent radio chatter, while Wolfenstein appears to have been Raven’s proving ground for some of the features of the game’s Time Manipulation Device, which can be used to slow down time, rip open time rifts, and punish the island’s ghouls with a Force Unleashed-alike push. The game also frequently flirts with ideas from Half-Life, System Shock and TimeShift, with the player seamlessly switching between 1955 and 2010 on the fly, while the new abilities regularly paced throughout the entire game are similar to the gameplay-changing elements seen in Metroid Prime.

More impressively, Raven have presented a previously untapped Valve-alike quality in Singularity, with some perfect pacing, a harrowing atmosphere and an initial sense of player vulnerability that gradually transcends into an unstoppable, telekinesis-abled one-man killing machine. Whether being stalked by time-manipulating predators, plucking rockets out of the sky or walking through abandoned schoolyards complete with visions and haunted screams of slaughtered children, it’ll have you gripped all the way up to the final mindblowingly awesome end sequence.

The odd kinks do occasionally show – a brief section where the player is tasked with outrunning an army of explosive spiders proves to be utterly frustrating and ultimately unnecessary, while the reliance on using the same puzzle mechanic to prop open gates and security shooters goes someway to prove that Raven lacks an ability to think outside of the box.

But to focus on these elements would be to discredit Raven’s forte – its ability to set up jaw-dropping set-pieces and boss battles. Imagine a fantastic armament of weaponry, and scenarios that will remain with you long after the credits roll around. It deserves to live in the memory alongside the games it so desperately seeks to imitate, and indeed, it seems almost criminal that so few will likely get round to experiencing one of the better shooters we’ve seen this generation. But if you’re one of those gamers prepared to give it a try, rest safe in the knowledge that Singularity will likely prove to be one of the games of the summer.

Yet bizarrely, that gut-wrenching feeling is met by one of sheer satisfaction. Other people are racing around our creation alongside us, rating it and commenting on it. Perhaps this could be the one that will gain us stardom in ModSpot, ModNation’s hub filled with podiums of the world’s most popular user-generated tracks, mods and karts that seamlessly bridges each game mode and menu, or featured on forums the world over.

Achievement and ingenuity, then, is something developers United Front Games are all too keen to see recognized in ModNation Racers. Yet, with the game being the studio’s first title, reward and recognition is perhaps something that would be better lauded at the team itself. They’ve created a stunning kart racer here, obviously inspired by genre king Mario Kart, but, unlike the majority of other kart racers on the market today, superbly polished and with enough of its own innovations to avoid appearing like another also-ran.

First and foremost is Creation Station, an extension on Sony’s Play, Create, Share moniker that allows you to create your own tracks, racers and karts via incredibly intuitive and easy-to-use toolsets, before publishing them to PSN for others to download. Creating your own kart and racer is simple, utilizing a similar system to LBP’s Popit menu, while laying down track is as simple as driving a cement mixer around a vast open space, tilting the elevation with the right stick, and reversing backwards to undo any mistakes. At its most basic level it’s a wonderfully simple opportunity for the most inexperienced user to boost the number of tracks available to them, with the option to auto-populate their track with boost pads, item pods and scenery making it possible to have a great track up and running in minutes. But an incredible amount of depth lies in wait of those willing to put the hours into creating something a little more special, right down to subtly tweaking turns and altering specific terrain. Just don’t go expecting some of the more mind-bending creations seen in LittleBigPlanet; options to create in ModNation are rooted firmly within the realms of racing.

When you do want to settle down for some races, the game’s career is surprisingly worthy of your time, refusing to sidle up to genre standards by moving away from the usual cup structure seen in your typical kart racer. Instead it’s a proper campaign, trekking the career of an up-and-coming racer looking to achieve victory in the ModNation Racing Championship. Races are broken down into various series, and bonus Creation Station items are awarded for achieving certain objectives, such as drafting behind racers for a certain amount of time or collecting a set number of item pods. Multiplayer too, is insanely fun and the online infrastructure is seamless, instantly allowing you to jump directly into an online casual or ranked race. You’re even able to play online with a local friend via a split-screen option, a feature often overlooked by the majority of racers.

But that’s ModNation Racers in a nutshell. It’s a kart racer that dares to tread outside of conventionality, using its inspirations effectively to deliver a highly polished, best-in-class experience full of charm and personality, and the best kart racer since Mario Kart.

Nevertheless, here we are, watching as the original mind behind Tanner et al, Martin Edmonson, gives us a rapid fire demonstration of Driver: San Francisco. It’s not a reboot, but a continuation of the series from Driv3r (conveniently ignoring Parallel Lines) which sees players slip back into the leather shoes of undercover-cop extraordinaire Tanner, he of considerable four-wheeled expertise.

Actually, the whole ’shoes’ thing is a bit misleading, as you’re actually only in Tanner’s mind. Sound weird? You haven’t heard anything yet. Tanner’s in a coma, although he doesn’t realize it, and somehow this means he can solve crimes by jumping from body-to-body and controlling any vehicle on the San Francisco streets.

If this makes no sense, don’t worry. It took the crew of journalists a while to get used to it, too. It’s a mechanic Ubisoft Newcastle is calling Shift, and it’s integral to how Driver: San Francisco works. With hands-on time, it starts to make sense.

Picture the scene: you’re in a typical Driver chase scene, hurtling through back alleys and dodging incoming traffic to try and catch a high-speed perp. You swing around a corner, the back end starts to creep away from you and crash, you end up sideswiping a Mini. Pause, restart, and wait for it to load… well not any more. Now, the second you feel that back end swing towards the terrified granny in the Mini, you can hit Shift, and the camera will lurch backwards as you watch a slow-motion, out-of-body view of the road. Simply hover your cursor over a better-positioned vehicle, hit Shift again and you’re back in the action without as much as a break or pause to load. It’s mental, but it might just work.

You can even use Shift to access side missions. Our demo ended with a quite staggering use of the esoteric mechanic. The camera pulled back, as before, but this time it shot skywards, revealing the entire city buzzing below. Hundreds of faces appeared on the screen, all talking in unison, before we focused on a cop. As quick as a flash, the camera sped back down to street level, and we were inside the cop’s head, chasing down criminals. It’s a novel approach, although the concern that the cop had been possessed by a psychotic, driving-obsessed coma victim didn’t seem to bother anyone. Ho hum.

This would mean nothing if Driver’s handling model wasn’t enjoyable in the first place, and it is. It’s not as punishing as the original game’s muscle-car wrestling, but every vehicle – of which there are well over 100 – has a weight and a heft to it that feels satisfying to throw around a Bay-area hairpin.

Edmonson and company chose to relocate the series back to San Francisco for two reasons. Firstly, it’s iconic. Not only thanks to the movies which influenced the series in the first place – Bullit, The Rock – but also the PSOne original. A decade on, Driver might be almost unplayable now, but it’s an influential relic, unquestionably.

Hurtling around the streets is enjoyable. It’s rough around the edges at the moment, not quite managing to clutch at the graphical heights of its competition, but there’s still plenty of time for polish, particularly in multiplayer, which is brimming with potential.

We were only privy to one mode, but it was enough to keep us happy for a good 60 minutes. The premise was simple: tail a car, staying in its slipstream longer than the other three drivers around you. Of course, when we all realized that we could Shift into any car on the track, things suddenly got a lot more interesting. Jumping into a Zonda when everyone else is driving taxis is highly amusing, and it leads to tactical play that simply doesn’t exist anywhere else.

There’s still work to be done, no doubt, but Driver: San Francisco has potential to restore faith to this fallen franchise. And if you disagree, they’ll jump into your head and crash your car into a wall.

Lamia, then, has his heights set high when it comes to this year’s Call of Duty. He’s no longer happy with his team lingering in the monolithic shadow of Infinity Ward as it always has done, instead encouraging the studio to form its own identity within the brand rather than have their time in the limelight callously referred to as a ‘non-Infinity Ward year’.

And from the two missions we’ve seen of Black Ops, the game certainly seems like it’ll leave a lasting impression. We’re whisked straight into a mission called ‘WMD’, stepping into the role of a pilot heading out on a reconnaissance mission high above Russia’s icy Ural Mountains. And by ‘high above’ we mean sub-orbital, strapping ourselves into the pilot seat of an SR-71 Blackbird and jetting down the runway on a path into space. Our task is to watch over friendlies on the ground, directing the squad to cover in an RTS-lite mini-game displayed via the Blackbird’s infra-red display. Visually it appears similar to Modern Warfare 2’s UAV, but this is a stealth mission, the tension amplifying as a convoy of troops pulls up outside the house our men have dug in. Retreating them out the back door, a white flash transfers directly into the perspective of our troops underground, seamlessly putting us into the boots of another character desperately attempting to hide themselves from patrols. The objective flashes on-screen, our mission to disable the power at a Spetznaz-controlled relay station now the prime goal, as we stealthily skulk past troops in the snow-laden mountain ranges, our scoped crossbow coming in handy to pick off hostiles one by one.

One spots us and raises the alarm, sending the mission into disarray as silencers come off and our troops charge down the mountainside. Modern Warfare 2’s breach mechanic has been revitalized. “We listen to comments about our game, about the Call of Duty franchise and about other games,” says Lamia, presumably referring to comments made about Modern Warfare 2’s breach system, which appears to have been implemented here as we rappel down the side of the power station and come crashing through the glass in slow motion, our assault rifle at the ready to take hostiles out during our swing. A brief firefight breaks out as we descend deeper into the station to switch the fuse box, completing our objective and prompting our escape – an avalanche interrupting our descent down the mountainside and forcing us, GoldenEye-style, to make a jump for it. Objective complete. Mission over.

To demonstrate Black Ops’ sheer variation we’re thrust straight into Hue City, Vietnam, for our second mission, the fire-red location a direct contrast to the cold blues of WMD. The mission too, though equally tense, couldn’t be further apart, putting us in the shoes of a US Task Force attempting to secure intelligence from a US headquarters in the throes of being taken over by the Vietcong. It’s a last-ditch gung-ho effort, and a level so typical of Call of Duty, the sensation of the war being fought in the background presented in the style only Call of Duty can ever seem to fathom. Its intense warfare as the squadron battles through office blocks and streets, civilians running for their lives as enemy militants invade the city. We’re told that the story begins here in 1968, but that this strictly isn’t a Vietnam game. Treyarch is placing emphasis on a deep story-driven narrative for Black Ops, with its fictional covert ops weaving in-between moments that are set throughout recent history. But the most impressive thing about it? That you’d easily be forgiven for mistaking Black Ops as an Infinity Ward title.

The single-player, then, seems to be in fairly safe hands, and with a dedicated team inside Treyarch working solely on Black Ops’ multiplayer, that too will likely prove to be this year’s best online shooter. The return of four-player co-op – a feature not seen in Call of Duty since World at War – should also prove to be a highlight, and though the return of the Zombies co-op is still to be confirmed, we’d bet our bottom dollar that it’ll be in there in some form – well, we hope so anyway.

So, for another year running, Call of Duty’s is very much looking like the one to beat. Any doubts about Treyarch’s ability to handle the franchise look likely to be cast away in an instant, and with a feature-packed line-up and wide-ranging scenarios and set-pieces, Black Ops appears to not only be the studio’s most ambitious game to date, but the most ambitious Call of Duty game ever made.

Game Uber’s Related Posts:

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 – Review • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 – Preview

It’s an odd turn of events for a series that has always been keen to explore some of nature’s most magnificent landscapes, the new city setting of MotorStorm Apocalypse seeming somewhat at odds with the direction the series has taken since its 2007 debut; the man-made monstrosity a far cry from the natural beauty of MotorStorms gone by. But Apocalypse has more to do with nature than you might think. It’s a tale of nature getting its own back on human intervention, the earthquake rampaging through Apocalypse’s city sending the urban bliss of the west coast North American metropolis spiraling into chaos and disorder. “It’s the perfect playground for an urban racing festival,” says Game Director Matt Southern, “the ultimate party at the end of the world; so fitting for what MotorStorm is.”

Apocalypse, then, doesn’t quite subscribe to MotorStorm’s mantra of ‘brutal off-road racing’. There are roads, for starters, with the MotorStorm festival shifting from the paradisal jungle of Pacific Rift to a new concrete equivalent. It’s what Southern calls “a reinvention” of the series, a claim backed up by some of Apocalypse’s unexpected, but thoroughly welcome innovations. The most immediate of them all is Apocalypse’s dynamic tracks. No longer simply static environments, Apocalypse’s approach to track design and hazards within the environment is something that could most closely be described as Split/Second on steroids, as the ongoing earthquake rips open roads, twists bridges into half pipes and sends skyscrapers tumbling to the ground. Improvements to the engine mean Evolution can now alter the track in real-time, constantly switching the course’s direction and surprising the player by suddenly throwing flaming trucks or half a building into their path.

The sheer variety demonstrated during the one track demo we were shown was enough to convince us that Evolution had gotten the balance between old and new just right, exploring new avenues of opportunity while retaining MotorStorm’s core look and feel – the boost system remains unchanged, the series’ ‘brutal’ combat plays a more prominent role than ever, and the vehicles, though rife with new classes, feel as rickety as they ever did.

The demo track starts on one of the city’s streets as a hijacked fuel tanker careers into a rival before bursting into flames on the side of the road. Plumes of smoke billow into the air as our path merges with a building’s collapsed rooftop, shooting us over the top and into a back alley as other skyscrapers tumble in the background. “This game is not set in a post-apocalyptic landscape,” explains Southern. “You don’t arrive after the apocalypse; you are there while it happens.” He’s right of course, the scene erupting in utter chaos as we burst through a car park, jumping over a slope formed by shells of burnt-out cars before being propelled outside onto a brick-floored pedestrian zone. It caves in on impact, forcing us underground through a series of tunnels, a maze designed to highlight MotorStorm’s multi-route racing while simultaneously exampling Apocalypse’s dynamic lighting, a new feature to the series ensuring that night and underground racing is now an option.

We zip into a subway station where a brawl has broken out between looters and an army of mercenaries, belting between bullets as we race along the train tracks and fling ourselves past burning train carcasses – the heat emanating from the wreckages playing havoc with our boost meter – before heading out and up the side of a collapsed skyscraper. It’s a final straight unlike anything you’ll have seen in any other racer, ending in a death-defying leap off the building’s peak. Demo over; chaos caused; hearts in mouths. MotorStorm’s back, and it’s better than ever.

But Apocalypse’s improvements and innovations extend far beyond the dynamicity of its location. Evolution is aiming for more consistency within Apocalypse, meaning that once buildings have collapsed they’ll stay collapsed for the duration of the campaign, and have introduced a story-driven narrative within the single-player campaign following the tale of three festival-goers competing over a 48-hour period. “It’s a completely linear experience,” tells Lead Designer Paul Rustchynsky of the game’s single-player, explaining that you’ll start Apocalypse’s campaign as a character known as ‘Rookie’ before moving on to play as ‘Survivor’ and ‘Veteran’. Each follows the same timeline, right through from leaving the transport carrier delivering them to the city, to their desperate escape from the city at the game’s finale, but each will be privy to different events and act as a basis for the game’s difficulty level, with more extreme, intense events unlocking as you progress, including the tantalizing tease of skyscraper rooftop racing. And yes, MotorStorm’s pack management – or rubberband AI as it’s more commonly referred to – is being reworked for Apocalypse, which should lead to some fairer races. “The last thing we want to do is frustrate the player,” says Rustchynsky.

But it’s arguably MotorStorm’s multiplayer component that’s getting the most significant attention. The online player count has been upped from 12 to 16 players, and now allows four local players to head online together while in split-screen, each signing in with their own PSN accounts to simultaneously increase their experience, with the new ranking system drip-feeding unlockables as players win races. A new perks system similar to that found in Blur also lets players add modifiers to their car, whether it be boost, handling or combat upgrades, while a persistent matchmaking and car customization option further enhances MotorStorm’s online capabilities. The new option to gamble experience points should also ensure that, if MotorStorm wasn’t already a game fuelled by rivalries, it certainly will be now, allowing players to place bets on particular players they suspect may win or lose each race. The biggest addition, however, is the introduction of a Game Mode Creator, a simple-to-use editor that lets players create and share their own game types. Simply put, MotorStorm Apocalypse seems rigged to be an online racer fan’s dream come true.

Even at this early stage, it’s clear that Evolution has done a fantastic job with revamping MotorStorm’s formula enough to attract newcomers, but keep it familiar enough to excite veterans, creating one of the most insanely exciting racers ever released.

Well it’s time to say goodbye to wily Washington and viva to Vegas, a wasteland which seems all together brighter and full of possibilities.

The campaign kicks off with your persona being forcefully ejected from a transporter by some mob bosses in the dead of night on the outskirts of the infamous Strip. Thankfully, you’re soon rescued by a charitable robot and are nursed back to health by a caring doctor. Once awakened, he asks you a host of personal questions to determine your character, even taking out some Rorschach cards to get a little more obtuse with the analysis. He then asks if you are happy with your appearance, sex and – a first for the Fallout series – age, before unleashing you into the wider world.

Like before, as soon the create-a-character segment is over, you’re free to explore in whatever direction takes your fancy, offering players complete freedom, which only the Fallout games can provide.

Nevada is the main setting, populated by plenty of towns and strange sights which are all vying to dominate the horizon, whether it’s the needle-like Stratosphere or Dinky the Dinosaur and his fabulous motel. Obsidian are aiming for every location to have its own special visual cue, so when a player is high up, he or she can determine exactly where they are without switching on the Pip Boy 3000.

Speaking of which, Fallout’s invaluable wrist apparatus has gone through a variety of improvements, including the ability to mod weapons. Every gun in the universe is completely customizable, enabling players to add extended magazines, scopes, sights, stabilizers and even change ammo types. During our demo we were shown a grenade-spamming mini-gun which instead of firing bullets, laid waste to an entire legion of super mutants with fast-firing explosive ordinance.

The improved functionality also extends to the buddy system, where now a smart radial menu replaces manually talking to companions to order them around. The faction dynamic has also been tweaked offering players more visual indication of their deeds. If you help one gang, their competitors might not be as friendly next time to compensate for your actions. When you become favored, factions can offer bonuses like safehouses and reduced shop rates.

The main reasons to get engrossed in this apocalyptic universe are the characters and the fiction, which from what we saw, was just as strong as fans have seen before. This time the main power struggle is between the New Californian Republic (NCR), who wants to bring hope and prosperity to the region, whereas Caesar’s Legion (guess where they hail from) wants to preserve the status quo of humanity by selling slaves and other unspeakably nasty deeds.

While some choices are obvious, there’s that same moral greyness to some choices. Again, there will be multiple branching paths and populaces to either save, ignore or destroy. One particular quest we witnessed involved a sarcastic engineer named Mr Fantastic who was in control of a defunct energy center. After the blond-haired pretender stopped whining about his predicament, he asked us to get the plant working. Naturally we obliged, and had the choice of either distributing the power evenly throughout the wasteland, ferrying it to the Strip for the benefit of Caesar, or sending it exclusively to an orbital weaponry array. The moral lines are clear, but who can resist the most destructive path? It’s these choices which will have even greater impact than ever before.

New Vegas will pack in just as much content as Fallout 3, with an open world as big as the Washington Wasteland and with plenty of quests to get engrossed in.

It’s impossible to gain an accurate representation of the entire campaign from an hour long demo but from what we saw, Fallout: New Vegas is shaping up to be every bit as entertaining as its predecessor.